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Boot Camp Prepares Students For Policy-Making Roles

Monday, August 26, 2019

Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Improving students’ critical-thinking skills is a top priority at the Hoover Institution’s Summer Policy Boot Camp. Critical thinking is the analysis of an issue or situation and the facts, data or evidence related to it.

Now in its third year, the Summer Policy Boot Camp offers an immersive program and a deep dive into the complex world of policy making. The residential program, which began August 18 and concluded August 24, included assignments, study groups, and lectures from Hoover’s top experts on national security, economics, health care, education, and law.

This year, 90 students and professionals attended the Hoover boot camp. Participants apply to the program, which is free to those accepted. Students are given the opportunity to interact directly with faculty, and session topics are chosen for their relevance to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Attendees are college students, recent graduates, and young professionals.

At the opening session, Summer Policy Boot Camp codirectors Scott W. Atlas and Joshua D. Rauh welcomed the participants: “This week, you will learn from eminent economists, renowned national-security experts, and leading policy makers chosen from our distinguished faculty. This program is designed to engage and foster fact-based critical thinking in interactive seminar-style sessions on the most important policy issues of today.”

Kaycee Ikeonu from the University of Victoria in British Columbia said, “It’s been a great conference and a chance to hear from top experts in the United States. It’s showing us how to apply policy in different areas.”

Ikeonu is a rising junior studying political science and economics who is interested in studying classical liberalism. He has written op-eds and has organized regional events on classical liberalism. Apart from his college obligations, he is the head of an international energy consulting firm based in Abuja, Nigeria.

Summer Policy Boot Camp 2019 session topics and speakers included:

National-security policy, H. R. McMaster

Cyber and intelligence, John Villasenor

Regimes and sovereignty, Stephen Krasner

Global hot spots, Condoleezza Rice

Policy exercise war games, Michael Auslin

Economic growth and taxation, Edward P. Lazear

The Fed and monetary policy, John B. Taylor

Innovation, Stephen Haber

Climate change policy, Bjorn Lomborg

The Bill of Rights, Michael McConnell

Human rights, Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The Supreme Court, John Yoo

Capitalism vs. socialism—Peter Berkowitz

Free-market environmentalism, Terry Anderson

US health-care reform, Scott W. Atlas

Robotics, labor, and the future job market, Erik Hurst

Education and economics, Caroline Hoxby

State and municipal government hidden deficits, Joshua D. Rauh

Banks, regulation, and the financial crisis, Amit Seru

Entitlement programs, John Cogan

Immigration and the electorate, David L. Leal

Nationalism vs. globalism today, Niall Ferguson

Politics and elections, David Brady and Morris P. Fiorina

To prepare for the week of lectures and study groups, students received reading assignments before the boot camp began. At the closing dinner on Friday, where Hoover fellow General Jim Mattis delivered a keynote address, participants who attended all of the sessions and did their homework for the week were given a certificate of completion.

By early September, the students are required to submit a policy proposal assignment—an essay of 1,500–2,000 words that offers a well-thought-out approach to a particular policy issue based on what they gleaned at the boot camp.

Two years ago, the Summer Policy Boot Camp was profiled in a Washington Examinerstory and in another article on TownHall.

Established one hundred years ago by Herbert Hoover at his alma mater Stanford University, the Hoover Institution marks its centennial in 2019. From its initial charge to collect materials documenting the experience of war and the pursuit of peace, the institution stands today as the world’s preeminent archive and policy-research center dedicated to freedom, private enterprise, and effective, limited government.

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The opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.